A Helping Hand
by The Alice Killer - Storm
Summary: Yoshiko is having an episode of depression and doesn't do anything for the day. Cue Hanamaru and Ruby being worried when she misses school so they go visit her that night.


Yoshiko was not in a good mood when her alarm went off to wake her up. She hadn't slept a wink. Her mind was not in a good place at all currently. Yoshiko couldn't even muster the strength to turn off her alarm. Her mother wasn't home to get her up. She was home alone and was not planning to go anywhere. She couldn't get the strength to even move.

Yoshiko laid there on her bed and listened as her alarm stopped beeping for a few minutes. Then it started up again. She was annoyed with it, but not enough to stop it. Yoshiko let out a sob as she buried herself into her bed. Why was she like this? Why couldn't she be normal at all?

She laid there and cried for a long time until her body was too tired to function and she fell back to sleep. Her alarm kept going off, as it would until she pressed it, but Yoshiko was too deeply asleep to hear it.

When she woke again, the alarm was still going off. Yoshiko grew angry at it and hit it. It crashed off the nightstand and broke. The beeping finally stopped. Yoshiko let out a sigh of relief. She felt better now that she had fixed it. She sat up on her bed and scrolled through her phone's notifications.

Ruby and Hanamaru had texted her a while ago asking where she was. Then they texted that she was missing school. Yoshiko didn't bother replying to them and instead started to switch between some apps on her phone in hope of finding something fun to do to break her depressive state for a little. It didn't help.

Yoshiko found nothing on her phone to be entertaining. The games she had spent hours playing only days earlier now held no sense of joy in her at all. It was horrible. Yoshiko plopped her phone onto her bed. She got up from her bed and went to go to the bathroom. As much as she had wanted to just lay in bed all day, she couldn't help her body's natural needs.

After she finished using the toilet, Yoshiko stared at her appearance in the mirror. She looked horrible. There were dark bags under her eyes and her eyes were red from her episode early. Yoshiko unconsciously reached over and grabbed a razor from the side. She fiddled with it and opened it up.

Yoshiko stared at the blade she now held in her hand. Was she really going to do that after being good for almost a month? Yoshiko tried to resist the urge that was growing in her hands, but ultimately failed. She brought the blade down and pulled down her pants.

Yoshiko cut on the area right below where her underwear stopped covering. She did it there because no one would see unless she took off her pants or skirt or whatever she was wearing to cover up down there. Yoshiko slashed the blade across a few times, wincing as the cold metal hit her skin. Yoshiko barely registered the blood falling down her legs as she put the blade down and grabbed a towel. She was completely numb inside.

After cleaning herself up, Yoshiko went back to her room and laid down. She heard her stomach growl, but didn't want to get back up and eat. She didn't even know if she deserved to eat. Yoshiko sighed as she turned on her phone again to see if there was anything new on it. Her mom had called her while she had been... busy.

Yoshiko didn't want to call her back. Thankfully she had texted. It was a text asking why the school called saying she wasn't there. Yoshiko sighed as she typed out a reply.

Yoshiko: Because of the depression you refuse to believe I have

She turned her phone off and curled up under the covers. She would probably just spend the day sleeping. It was the easiest way to deal with her no motivation.

**DIVIDER-- **

Yoshiko slept the entire day away, only getting up when she needed to use the bathroom. She was asleep until someone rang her house's doorbell. Yoshiko groaned. She didn't want to get up and answer it. And who was ringing her doorbell as nine o'clock at night? Yoshiko stayed in her bed and tried to fall back to sleep. They'd leave eventually, right?

Yoshiko was almost asleep again when her door creaked open and the lights turned on. She was scared. Who was in her room with her?

"Yoshiko-chan?" A familiar voice belonging to one of her fellow first-years rang out.

Yoshiko didn't want to talk to her. She ignored her and went back to trying to sleep. Unfortunately, it seemed that wasn't going to happen any time soon. Yoshiko felt the bed shift as someone sat down on it. Her covers were pulled off of her body.

"Leave me alone." Yoshiko grumbled as she threw a pillow on top of her face.

"Yoshiko-chan, you missed school."

"I know. Leave me alone!" Yoshiko threw the pillow at her with as much force as she could muster.

"Piggi!" A startled cry was heard before a thud.

Yoshiko froze as her mind registered what she had just done. She had not meant to do that, but yet, part of her felt good about doing that. It liked the fact she had caused someone else pain. Yoshiko didn't like that part of her. It made her seem like she was a monster. Yoshiko didn't want to be a monster like her mind made her out to be.

"Ruby-chan! Are you alright?" A second voice called.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine, Hanamaru-chan." Ruby replied shakily.

Yoshiko pulled her covers back over her face. She didn't want to face them. Especially after what she had just done to Ruby. They'd probably be really mad at her. Out of the two of them, why'd it have to be Ruby?

"Yoshiko-chan?" Hanamaru called.

Yoshiko didn't reply. She just pulled the covers tighter against her. Hanamaru tried to pull them off to no avail. Yoshiko did not want to let go. She wanted to just curl up and hide until they left.

"Um... why is your clock broken?" Ruby suddenly asked.

Yoshiko was confused for a second, before she remembered that she had whacked it off the nightstand in anger at its beeping. She slowly loosened her grip on the covers and peaked out.

"I hit it." Yoshiko stated as she warily looked at the two of them.

"What's up with you? You're not acting like yourself at all." Hanamaru asked as she took the opportunity to remove the covers off of Yoshiko.

Yoshiko sat up on her bed and refused to meet their eyes. She stared at the bed and kept quiet. She didn't want to talk to them. Yoshiko froze up when she saw red on her bed sheets. She mustn't have cleaned her wounds up good enough and they kept bleeding. Ruby and Hanamaru noticed it as well.

"What happened? Why's there blood on your bed?" Ruby asked as she sat on the edge of the bed.

"I-it's nothing!" Yoshiko quickly tried to cover her legs and bloody sheets.

"You're legs are red too. Did something happen?" Ruby noticed and stopped her.

"I-I just got my period. Yeah. It's just my period." Yoshiko tried to lie.

"It's not. We can tell you're lying." Hanamaru called her out.

Yoshiko quickly got off her bed and tried to run to the bathroom. Hanamaru and Ruby stopped her before she got too far. Yoshiko was dragged back to the bed and forced to sit. Hanamaru left to get some bandages and a towel to clean off Yoshiko.

"What happened?" Ruby sat beside her and tried to get her to talk.

"Nothing." Yoshiko grumbled. She was not enjoying this at all.

"Please?" Ruby pleaded, giving Yoshiko her best puppy impression.

Yoshiko gave in, unable to resist Ruby's charm, "I... I cut myself... on purpose."

"Yoshiko-chan..." Ruby frowned as she moved to wrap her into a hug.

"I'm sorry..." Yoshiko felt tears start falling down her face, "You probably think I'm fucked up in the head..."

"No. I don't think that." Ruby stated firmly as she nuzzled her face into Yoshiko's cheek.

Yoshiko felt Ruby slowly pulling her pants down. She sighed and allowed her. Ruby gasped softly as she stared at the red lines coating Yoshiko's upper legs. Yoshiko looked down and frowned as she saw how bloody they looked. She was really distracted that morning and was not paying nearly enough attention.

"I'm back..." Hanamaru trailed off as she stared at the scene in front of her.

Yoshiko had shifted and started crying onto Ruby's shoulder. She was scared. What was going to happen to her? Would they hate her? Would they tell everyone else about how messed up she is?

"Yoshiko-chan, could you sit up taller? I'm gonna clean you up, alright." Hanamaru spoke very softly to Yoshiko, fearing she would get worse if spoken to the wrong way, "Everything's going to be okay."

Yoshiko obliged to the request and tried her best to sit up taller. Hanamaru gently dabbed a wet washcloth over Yoshiko's wounds, cleaning up the blood that was easy to pick up. Getting the dried blood off would be harder and definitely more painful.

Ruby kept Yoshiko distracted as Hanamaru started having to scrub her legs a little to get the blood off. Yoshiko let out whimpers of pain and shifted slightly. Ruby rubbed her back and kept her in a hug. It helped to keep her calm.

Soon enough, Hanamaru had gotten most of Yoshiko's legs cleaned up. She put the cloth to the side and then ran a hand down Yoshiko face. Yoshiko looked at her with fearful eyes.

"Shh... I know... the medicine will hurt but you need it. If I don't they'll get infected." Hanamaru knew Yoshiko was aware of what she needed to do next.

"No... I don't want it. I'll be fine..." Yoshiko begged. She didn't want to be any more vulnerable around them. She wanted to be strong. But, with the current situation, it was a hopeless ideal. Her true personality was coming through and she couldn't stop it.

"You need it. I promise I'll try and make it quick." Hanamaru stated as she squirted some ointment onto her fingers.

Yoshiko tensed up as Hanamaru started to lather her wounds in it. It stung a lot. Yoshiko whined as she went to whack Hanamaru's hands away. Unfortunately, Ruby grabbed them and held the back before she could.

"S-stop! Please... it hurts!" Yoshiko begged.

"I'm almost done. Just a few more." Hanamaru replied as she tried to speed up without getting sloppy.

Yoshiko continued to whine as Hanamaru tried to finish up. Once she had finished, Yoshiko quieted a little. She was still in pain as the ointment sunk in to her wounds. Hanamaru pulled out the bandage wrap and started to carefully wrap the long white bandage around Yoshiko's legs. Yoshiko watched her silently as she did the wrapping with precision. Soon enough, Yoshiko's wounds were all bandaged up.

Yoshiko stood up and walked to her dresser and pulled out some new pants to wear. Her old ones had blood all over them. As did her underwear. Yoshiko grabbed a pair of those as well and vanished into the bathroom to change. Ruby and Hanamaru waited right outside the door to make sure she didn't try anything while she was in there.

After Yoshiko came out, they all went back to her room and laid on the bed together. Yoshiko was stuck in between them. She was not getting out unless she asked.

"So, why did you miss school?" Hanamaru asked her.

Yoshiko didn't want to answer, but she decided it was best to just go along and do as they wanted for the time being, "I couldn't get the will to move out of my bed."

"Has this happened often?"

"Yeah... but if my mom's home, she forces me up and out." Yoshiko felt like this conversation was going to turn into a therapy session if she kept answering honestly.

"Do you... cut often?" Hanamaru hesitated before she asked it.

"No. I hadn't done it for almost a month..." Yoshiko looked down at her legs. She felt ashamed. After all that effort she had put into getting clean, it was ruined in less than a minute because she couldn't fight off her depressive thoughts.

Ruby and Hanamaru wrapped their arms around her and hugged her. They knew it was hard for her. She was never one to open up easily about personal issues. They both knew that they probably had their work cut out for them if they were determined to get to the bottom of what was wrong with Yoshiko.

Yoshiko relaxed into their embrace. It felt loving and caring. It wasn't a forced embrace like the ones she was accustomed to having with her mother. This one was genuine and Yoshiko really liked it. It had been so long since she felt that much care for her.

"Have you eaten much today?" Ruby asked after she heard Yoshiko's stomach rumble.

Yoshiko didn't want to reply. She hadn't eaten anything at all today. She didn't want to admit that to them.

"No." Yoshiko hoped she wouldn't have to elaborate further on when she had last eaten.

"Do you want to eat? We could make you something."

Yoshiko gave a small nod. She knew she should eat something even if she didn't feel like it. Not having eaten since lunch the previous day probably wasn't a good thing. Ruby and Hanamaru guided her down to the kitchen and they all worked together to make something for them all to eat.

Yoshiko was thankful for the distraction. Being able to have two people who were lending their energy to her really made a difference in her state. Yoshiko found herself cracking smiles every now and again as one of them messed up slightly. She even started trying to correct them with her name after a few minutes.

Hanamaru and Ruby were relieved to see that Yoshiko was getting back into her usual self. She just needed someone to help her. And they were both always more than willing to help if she needed it. After all, that's what best friends did for each other.

"Alright. I think we finished it." Hanamaru stated as she turned off the stove.

The soup they had made smelled delicious. They all hoped their minor errors wouldn't have too much of an effect on it. The smell and taste of a food could be completely different, as they had learned many times. It didn't look the neatest, but they weren't worried about how it looked.

Yoshiko dished out the soup for the three of them. They carried their bowls to the table and ate. Ruby started up a conversation to keep Yoshiko occupied with something.

"Um, Yoshiko-chan? Can I ask one thing?" Ruby asked shyly.

"Sure?" Yoshiko was a little wary from the way Ruby had asked it. She felt it was going to be a question about her personal issues.

"Why exactly do you have these problems?" Ruby asked.

Yoshiko didn't respond right away. She did not want to tell them. Would they even believe her? After all, she was self-diagnosed because her mom wouldn't take her concerns seriously. Yoshiko was worried that the answer she wanted to give would be the end of their help.

"I... I think I have depression. My mom... she won't take me to a therapist to see, but I think that's the reason..." Yoshiko hesitantly admitted. She glanced at Ruby and Hanamaru to see their reactions.

"Oh... Yoshiko-chan..." Ruby stood up and wrapped her arms around Yoshiko from behind.

Hanamaru walked over to her as well, "I'm sorry..."

Yoshiko sat there stiffly for few moments, before she let herself relax into Ruby's hug. She looked over at where Hanamaru stood.

"Can we do anything to help?" Hanamaru asked her.

"Just... just stay with me, please. I feel better when you guys are around..." Yoshiko answered shyly. She didn't really like to admit her feelings.

They all shared smiles and then went back to eating. Ruby offered to clean up and let Yoshiko and Hanamaru go back up to her bedroom. Yoshiko sat on her bed. Hanamaru remained outside the room to wait for Ruby. She wanted to discuss something with her in private.

Yoshiko could hear the whispers as they spoke, but had no idea what they were saying to each other. Soon the two of them quieted and entered the room. Yoshiko couldn't read their faces for any hints as to what they had been discussing.

"We've been discussing what we want to do to help you and, well, we thought it would be best to ask you what you want us to do for you. So... how can we make you better, Yohane-chan?" Ruby and Hanamaru took turns speaking.

Yoshiko stared at them with wide eyes. They had called her "Yohane". Normally they were the ones who corrected her the most.

"Um... I-I... I want you... to stay with me." Yoshiko stammered out, "Just for t-tonight."

Hanamaru and Ruby looked at each other before they turned and smiled at Yoshiko. They nodded, agreeing to her request. Yoshiko stood up and walked over to where they stood. She pulled them both into a hug. Yoshiko felt tears slip down her face as they hugged her back. She felt loved for once in her life.

"We're here for you, Yohane-chan."

They hugged each other for a while. Eventually they pulled away. Ruby guided Yoshiko back to her bed and laid down with her. Hanamaru picked up the broken alarm clock and put it somewhere where it wouldn't be a danger to anyone. After she finished, she also joined them on the bed.

Yoshiko allowed the two of them to cuddle up to her. She slipped her hands under their necks and held them in a loose hug. Ruby nuzzled her face into Yoshiko's neck as she started falling asleep. It was almost 11 at night.

"Ruby-chan... Hanamaru-chan... I love you guys..." Yoshiko whispered out quietly, "Thank you for being here for me..."

Ruby was already fast asleep when Yoshiko said that. But, she already knew that. It was obvious to her.

"I love you too, Yohane-chan. We'll always be here for you. Goodnight." Hanamaru heard her and gingerly caressed one of Yoshiko's cheeks as she slowly drifted off as well.

Before long, those two were fast asleep. Yoshiko wasn't though. She couldn't help but look at the two of them as they slept. She smiled as she closed her eyes. Everything was alright for once. She had them by her side to help her. With that in mind, Yoshiko fell asleep, safely crushed in between her two best friends.


End file.
